GIRLS BASKETBALL: Balanced OJR upends Pottstown

POTTSTOWN — No matter how well a basketball team passes the ball around and sets up open shots, it still has to eventually put the ball in the basket. That’s been a problem at times this season for the young Owen J. Roberts girls squad, but not in Friday night’s Pioneer Athletic Conference contest at Strom Gymnasium as the Wildcats hit a season high on the scoreboard in a 59-23 win over Pottstown.

Nikki Testa led OJR (4-5, 7-7) with 12 points and six others scored anywhere from six to eight points. Alicia Rosenberger topped the Trojans (0-9, 1-15) with 11 points.

“We’ve done that pretty well all year,” Wildcat coach Jeremy Mellon said concerning his team’s quick and accurate passing game. “It’s just executing the finish. We’ve hung around with everybody we’ve played. It’s really just about us. We’re a young team. We need to be more detail-oriented.”

“We, at first, had trouble with it,” said OJR sophomore Rebecca Painter, who put her team up for good at 6-4 with a short jumper and followed that with a basket on a drive down the middle as the visitors took command by scoring 10 consecutive points. “We’re learning a lot and improving a lot each and every day.”

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Rosenberger stopped the visitors’ string of points with a 3-pointer from the top of the circle – the first of her three on the night – right before the end of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 14-7 and Alexis Hewlett (6 points, 8 rebounds) opened the second quarter scoring with a basket off an offensive rebound for the Trojans.

But the Wildcats then ran off nine straight points and boosted their lead to 29-11 by the halftime break. At that point they had committed just five turnovers, and they followed that up with eight perfect minutes of ball-handling in the third quarter while pouring in 22 points to put the game out of reach.

OJR finished up at 39 percent from the field (26-for-67) with only seven turnovers the entire night and a 42-36 advantage on the boards.

On the other hand, Pottstown had all kinds if trouble hanging onto the ball and hitting shots when it did.

“It’s the normal,” said Trojan coach Chris Jackson. “The turnovers. You’re not going to win any games when you have more turnovers (25) than points and you’re shooting 20 percent (9-for-43). At this stage of the season, you hope your team is getting better.

“It’s really simple. We’re not shooting well. We’re turning the ball over. And we’re getting killed on the boards. Having Sidney (Sanford) out doesn’t help rebounding-wise. You’ve just got to go back to the basics.”

Jackson hopes his team can pull out some wins when it returns to play against Frontier Division opponents for the rest of the league season.

“We’ll just go back at it on Monday, try to keep their spirits up,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll win some games.”

Meanwhile, the Wildcats will return to action against the tough Liberty Division, with the hope of staying in the chase for a district playoff spot.

“We have a big game (tonight),” said Mellon. “We go to Downingtown West. That’s a big game for us as far as district standings. We have a tough three, four, five games coming up. We’ve got to shore up our mistakes. We had double-digit missed layups.”

“We’re hoping to win and push ourselves,” said Painter. “We know we can do it … keep finishing, push it. We’re a fast team. We just have to make the right decisions. We’re playing all the big teams again. We know what’s coming. We’re ready for it the second time.”

NOTES

Mechiah Brant and Taylor Evans each scored eight for OJR and Theresa Walsh had seven points and six rebounds. ... Caroline DeAngelo pulled in a team-high six rebounds for the Wildcats and scored six, as did teammates Painter and Lexi Shimkonis. … Testa shot 5-for-11 from the floor, including three baskets from beyond the three-point stripe. … “Jeremy is doing a great job with his team,” said Jackson. “They work hard. I applaud that team.”